Is a foxpro worth the money?

[Evoac05]

I'm just getting into predator hunting and I was looking at foxpro electronic game calls and decoys. I have a handful of mouth calls and was curious if getting a foxpro is worth the money. Are decoys worth it too? What do you use and how well do you like your setup? Any help is appreciated? Thanks

[Snopczynski]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=92083.0

[K357**]

Foxpro...yes the decent...hand calls are good to..but just remember... the speaker buried is lunch...the hand calls...your lunch...just sayin..   Seriously...I have a hunting buddy that has a Foxpro..It's a decent piece of equipment...

[Jerry malbeck]

I highly recommend that you spend a lot of time and sets with the mouth blown calls and learn how to call predators the right way before you move on to a FoxPro .
You will become a much better and more savvy caller if you do this.
 You will learn how to work coyotes and it will become more obvious to you what you are doing wrong if you stick to the mouth calls at first .
I know this sounds kinda silly but i know that most seasoned callers will agree with me .
Using mouth calls will make you think about your set ups and will make you pay attention to coyote behavior as you will not have the sound away from you , You will learn the art of calling rather then just calling .
I am a FoxPro field staff member and have been calling coyotes for going on 18 years now.
I started with mouth calls and learned through trial and error how to do this the right way .
Or find a seasoned caller and learn all the fine points before you go to a E.Caller .
The FoxPro line of electronic calls as well as many other brands are a fine tool and can make successful calling easier as it gets the sound away from the caller allowing  you to make more mistakes.
BUT they are NOT a magic bullet that will just make it happen or turn you into a great caller overnight .
 Its very important to learn proper set up techniques,Coyote Body language, And Coyote behavior to get to the point where you can have regular success all year long .
Are the FoxPros worth the money? I thought so in 1995 and bought one of the first they were making , I sure have not changed my mind since LOL.
Hope this helped , I didn't mean to discourage you from buying a Electronic call , Just trying to make you a better caller and not dependent on a device to get the job done . When its all said and done You are the most effective tool in your arsenal .

I have a love hate relationship with decoys . A decoy can be your best friend or your worst enemy .
The reason i say this is first and formost a predator has to be able to see the decoy to be effective .
Decoys are awesome tools and will often seal the deal when used in open areas where coyotes are reluctant to cover open areas to approach your call . When a predator sees movement they become much more relaxed and will be more likely to commit and cover the open area .
But this can also become what i refer to as a rodeo . When a predator does commit and locks on to your decoy they can become a guided missile hell bent for election and you end up with a HARD charger that is sometimes impossible to stop .
Nothing harder to hit then a moving coyote much less one coming straight at you doing 25 to 35 M.P.H.
If this happens and you are not a seasoned caller most likely you will end up with a educated coyote and a lot of frustration .
In close cover there is really never any need for a decoy .
Most of the time i never use them  .  Hope this helped .

[Evoac05]

Thanks Jerry! I appreciate all of your help. Your reply was very informative and just what I was looking for. I will definately try and master the hand calls and setup before moving on to the electronic calls. Thanks again

[TwoSixFourWins]

Decoys are ok as long as they are not motorized. Yotes have really good hearing and can hear that motor even if you cant.  The foxpros are proven but i could never afford the one i wanted without spending the money on a new rifle instead so i use hand calls.  I like that many are very small but SUPER effective so fitting a few different calls in your pocket is easy. I taught myself to imitate a lot of the sounds with my mouth. In my opinion the softer sound at closer range is more realistic.  Squeakers out of dog toys work good too. Just have to try them all and see what works for you.

[FALFire]

Decoys are ok as long as they are not motorized. Yotes have really good hearing and can hear that motor even if you cant.

Interesting you say that, have you used any of the motorized decoys or are you assuming that they don't work if they are motorized? Just curious 

[TwoSixFourWins]

I've seen some set up in stores. Some are really noisy.  I never used them since I'm not big on set up time for predator hunting.  Where i used to hunt you needed to move a lot to find them and if you wanted to setup a decoy every time it would have been a lot of extra time and walking which means more human scent around and fewer areas covered. If you were in a spot known to produce and were going to spend time there anyways finding a quiet decoy would probably be beneficial.

[FALFire]

I've seen some set up in stores. Some are really noisy.  I never used them since I'm not big on set up time for predator hunting.  Where i used to hunt you needed to move a lot to find them and if you wanted to setup a decoy every time it would have been a lot of extra time and walking which means more human scent around and fewer areas covered. If you were in a spot known to produce and were going to spend time there anyways finding a quiet decoy would probably be beneficial.

Oh..Okay , thanks........

[FALFire]

 Evoac05,

My advice, listen to Jerry, he knows what he  is talking about. Jerry has been calling and killin' for a very long time, he has probably missed more coyotes than most people ever see in a lifetime and he don't miss often.

I'm kinda new at this predator thing, I've been calling now for only about 35 or 36 years and I learn something new every time I go out. I've used decoys on many, many occasions and had coyotes come in on a dead run and stand 3 feet away from it and bark, then die. I've had them slowly and cautiously come in and hold up at 100 yards looking at the decoy as if it were something from Mars. Others have come on a dead run only to see the decoy and tear azz outta there like they have been shot at, well, usually it's because they have been    Hey..even I miss once in awhile 

The truth is, decoys sometimes help, and when using an E-Caller they kind of go hand-n-hand, but use them wisely and to do so, you need to use them regularly until you find what works for you in a given setup. I hunt mostly wide open areas these days but called them on occasion when I lived on the wet side of the state. I began calling back in the mid 70's in Southern California and did a little calling in Nevada for a few months. So far during this Coyote Madness thing going on, I've logged 30 dogs, shot several more that I couldn't find and missed several more. I will still use a decoy when one, I have it with me and two, the setup location dictates it's use. They are not the magic bullet and they can be a double edged sword, they can make some stands very educational for you and/or the dog.

I have three E-Callers, I use one along with hand calls for most of my stands. Sometimes the E-Caller just doesn't work well by it's self, the same with the hand calls, but it don't take a lot of lung work to turn on an E-Caller.

Good luck in your learning process, most of have already been there and many of us are still learning!

[AWS]

In heavily called areas I like to get in thick cover and a decoy/remote caller can work really well when you aren't going to see the coyoter until he is very close, it distracts a coyote enough to give you a chance to move to make a shot without spooking the coyote.  They seem to work very well in open country and I haven't seen one spooked by a decoy yet.  I do try and set up my decoy so the coyote can see it for a long way and not stumble apon it as he's coming in to the call.

I started using a record player caller in the 60's and over the years have use records, tapes, CD's and digital-callers.  I've owned 3 Foxpro, 3 Johnny Stewards, a Minaska M-1 Bandit and a handful of homemade callers.  They have all called preds., easy of operation is my main concern.  Right now I use a the Minaska, a FP Scorpion, a JS Premaster(wired) and a JS Attracttor(with handcalls).  My favorite is the M-1 Bandit bcause the remote is so handy, the keyboard is big and your never more than 2 buttons away from a sound.  The FP I have to scroll to find a sound and have to have my glasses handy to read the remote. The presets on the FP are a little better, but to me not as nice as the Minaska.

[Evoac05]

Thanks everyone! Looks like I might be picking up a decoy to see how well it will work for me (I wonder how well a rooster tied to a stake works    ). I think I might try and work more on my setup and hand calls before I spring for an electronic caller.

[FALFire]

I use the MOJO Critter, careful with it, they crack very easily. I have a fix for that, I use ABS plastic pipe and in tall all the guts in that to make it nearly bullet proof.

[Big10gauge]

Guess, I can't disagree with Jerry or Falfire on this one. Even though I'm a fiesty mood. 

I've hunted coyotes for about the same as Falfire and 2yrs ago bought my first e-caller, The only advantage I see with it is it gets the sound away from you and most people can't blow vocals very well. Learning where and how to set up with the terrain and weather conditions and knowing your prey will go a long way to making your hunting more successful.  As for decoys I have several but it's a rare day when I use them for the reasons mentioned above.

[Bofire]

  I aint never kilt a coyotee and rarely hunt em , ya ever tied a feather on light fishing line hung it from bush/tree or stake? Let it flutter in the breeze? I've seen folks use a fishing pole to wiggle bushes away from them!! I used other decoys, lots of callers, lots of mouth calls, lots of rifles.
I do not think I ever saw any rise in kills using a decoy, BUT, I can think of sets where one might help, sets where they can see a LONG way.
The rules of calling have not changed, sneak in, watch the wind, hide well, call, DO NOT MISS,  repeat.
Carl

[rasbo]

been calling a few days myself,bought the fox pro a few yrs back and sold it.love the hand calls much better,they have worked for me for a long time.no fussing with anything,,as far as reaching out, hand calls reach out...I do have a mojo critter and thought it would be really good on cats,but has yet to show results,I had it out one morning and a bobby flanked me,coming to the call never did look at the critter,,Now that made no sense to me,knowing bobby's..If your worried about something getting in your lap stay in the truck,cause they are always damn near in my lap

[Kain]

That really depends on the person buying.  They are well made and provide a lot of features and goods sounds BUT they will not call in more animals than any other method of calling just because it says Foxpro on the side. 

I started out with hand calls and a forty dollar speaker connected to my cell phone with free MP3s from the internet.  Called in lots of animals with those.  I now own a Spitfire and I know for certain it has not improved my odds of calling in an animal.  Setup, location, camo are all more important than what call you use.  That being said I am happy with it and have no buyers remorse.  It is a big improvement in regards to ease of use.  Where I see an advantage from hand calling is keeping the sounds away from you,  reducing movement, easier when calling for long periods of time and the ability to use sounds that are not easily produced with hand calls.

It is going to be up to you if the cost is worth it.  Some guys put thousands of dollars into their hunting rifles and the guys with the $400 Savage can kill just as many animals at normal ranges.  Good camo and a padded seat are probably the best bang for the buck after your weapon.

[Snopczynski]

At my house in the outskirts of Bonney Lake, I have not heard coyotes since last summer. Last night I bought 16 new calls for the foxpro and uploaded them into it. I was running the firestorm caller in the house with the volume at about 6 for most of the calls. 40 minutes later I was laying in bed and heard two groups of yotes start up outside. Sounded like they were just at the end of the street in the woods. I cannot figure out if it was just a coincidence, or if that caller actually called them in close to the neighborhood.

[prkrgrp]

save your money for gas and a guided hunt, you will learn more in 2 days of hunting than 1 year of on line help and slogging around on your own, don't buy anything until you have 4 or 5 kills, if you must have a call get a close reed distress call, all you have to do is blow on it and it will work

[Snopczynski]

This last weekend I hunted the royal city area, and a field out in Warden. Both places I saw coyotes. The only calls that brought them into shooting range were the following female calls: coyote howls, whimpers, submissive call, and challenge. I could see the ones in the field at about 1200 yards, and when I played the rabbit distress they looked my way and started to come. However they never showed up. they went over some railroad tracks and went into a field next to us. We even blew on the mouth call halfway into the set on these ones.

Yesterday I called in two, and my cousin took shots at them, both were the female calls.

How the hell do I get the distress calls to work.

[fast1]

I used mouth calls for years with great success, then I bought a FP scorpion,it does great if ther is no wind. If there is it stays in the pick up. It just dosent put the sound out. Wish I would have either saved the money or bout a lotto ticket. The sounds are great tho. Never have been able to get the external speeker jacks to work. As far as decoys I've had a mono critter,cracked houseing but did shoot a few when in use, have a Montana decoy cojo, never took out, have a promos,never used, edge rabbit, still in box, an old arrow 6" of fishin line on a swival goin threw a hole in a old arrow, use all the time, light,easy to pack,no set up time & it gets there attention. And its cheap! Not knockin FP, but I wish I would have bit the bullet and dropped another hundred and got a midrange caller from them.

[fullpipe77]

Yes they are.  I love my furry 2.  I owned two primos alfdogg wich was nasty sounding.  After I was displeased with those, my friend has a foxpro.  So I went out and got the furry!  This thing sounds great.  Them remote is fantastic.  I have had no regrets.  The thing with buying foxpros is they do cost a lot so just save up and buy the higher end caller instead of trying to upgrade and selling your old caller.